The E-Sylum: Volume 4, Number 33, August 12, 2001, Article 11
THE LOT OF A BIBLIOPHILE'S SPOUSE
Malgorzata "Gosia" Fort, wife of Asylum Editor
E. Tomlinson Fort, writes in response to David Lange's
piece about living arrangements when both a library and
spouse are involved:
"A word of support for all book collectors' wives. Yes,
we do need to have an "open and uncluttered home".
This usually has little understanding on the part of our
significant other. Tom and I had books absolutely
everywhere in our old apartment.
SO, when we bought the house, WE decided to change
the biggest room in the house into OUR LIBRARY. A
truly wonderful idea! I think it would work fine, if we
had the same understanding what OUR LIBRARY
means. As it quickly turned out our views on the library
were slightly different. I cherished the idea that we would
have a room full of books, a room where our collections
would be joined and where, in the evenings we could sit
in comfortable armchairs and enjoy our mutual passion
for books. [The rest of the house would be free of books,
of course]
Tom's idea of the library was to have a place for his
numismatic books only! And, I must admit, they really look
gorgeous neatly arranged on shelves by topic with a little
room in each section reserved for growth. But it is also very
obvious that, now we have both, the library and the books
in every other room! The only argument that I won (a rather
teary one) was to extend the room for my books from three
shelves to eight, which means that the rest of my collection
would stay indefinitely in my parents' house. All other
arguments ended up as arrangements of compromise
between two different approaches to book collecting.
I need the light to fully appreciate my books. I take
enormous pleasure in petting spines of my books, enjoying
different colors, textures and smells. Tom sees in light solely
its damaging powers, so we had to have curtains in the Library.
["No curtains" was not an option, but I got the right to choose
one] My "economy of space" approach helps me manage
better the limited space I have. My shelves are adjusted to
different heights and books are arranged by size. In my
parents' house I had my books arranged in two rows and
from time to time I would shift them to enjoy the books from
the second row for a while. Oh, what fun it was! This
approach is "criminal" in Tom's eyes. All shelves should be
of equal size and the only reasonable arrangement of books
is by subject. [He still complains that I forced my idea of
designing a small section in one of his bookcase with shelves
adjusted to the height of his tiny Loebs]
And then it comes the last difference. Shall I admit that I
bought quite a few books in my life that I did not care for
the text at all and I had no intention to read. I bought them
because they were fine specimens of the art of printing and
looking at them gives me equally great pleasure as reading.
I have couple of books from 1932, low circulation editions
with uncut pages and I am going to preserve this original state.
[And when I am writing this, Tom's voice with "if I paid so
much money, you can bet, I am going to read it" rings in my
ear] I would prefer any original first edition to the finest reprint
[but he already knows this]
Anyway, have a little bit more understanding for your wife's
desire to fight your passion. If not fought, it would sneak out
from under control and spread around leaving not much more
room than for old traditional 3 Ks (Kinder, Kuchen, Kirche).
Fighting for "uncluttered" house, she is actually fighting for the
room in your heart."